Stratagene, of La Jolla, Calif., has introduced three new offerings: QuikSpot PCR Products, Universal Mouse Reference RNA (UMRR), and SpotReport Oligo Array Validation System. The company is offering up to 20 percent discounts for customers who order its microarray products until March 29, 2002.
The QuikSpot PCR products are available in amounts of one to three micrograms, and can be ordered either in complete sets or as custom-selected products. They are designed to allow researchers to spot microarrays without having to amplify their own clones. The products are derived from Stratagenefs clone collection, which includes both public and proprietary sequences. The products come from the 3f UTR side of the gene in order to minimize non-specific binding and undergo quality control.
The Universal Mouse Reference RNA comes from a collection of total RNA from a number of mouse cell lines. Researchers can use the RNA as a single control sample, to serve as a benchmark to measure variability between multiple microarrays.
The companyfs SpotReport Oligo Validation System includes a number of controls and is used to validate data from oligonucleotide microarray experiments. The system measures hybridization efficiency, dye-bias incorporation, the presence of positive and negative controls, detection sensitivity, as well as array orientation, according to Stratagene. The controls include beta actin, poly(A), cot-1, salmon sperm, and salt sodium citrate (SSC), as well as ten exogenous Arabidopsis thaliana genes for spiking and creation of a standard reference curve.
Arcturus of Mountain View, Calif, has introduced its PicoPure RNA Isolation Kit, which allows researchers to recover RNA from laser capture microdissection (LCM) cells. The kit is optimized to recover the maximum amount of total RNA while maintaining RNA integrity. It includes buffers and purification columns as well a validated, three-step isolation protocol. Each kit contains supplies for ten isolations. It delivers RNA in as little as 10 µl of buffer ,the company said.